"I am so very proud of CSM for offering [this] type of learning community; I love the autonomy, responsibility, and higher level of critical thinking involved. I can’t wait to see what my cohorts will present at the end of the semester!" — Jenoah Timko, Sociology major

"The Honors Project has established a really fun, thought-provoking, and innovative learning environment for me and my peers."— Georgy Golubev, Computer and Information Science major

Rupinder Pal Singh came to the College of San Mateo after moving to the United States from India. Rupinder found out about the Honors Project though the tutoring program. He wanted to join the Honors Project in the first year, to be part of it at the very beginning, and his first semester with the Honors Project made him feel like he was involved in something really special. That motivated him to do better. He says, "It motivates me to get better at everything I do because everyone is better than me at something I'm not good at." Everyone in the Honors Project has a different approach to solving a particular problem, he adds. "That means there are so many ways to solve a problem, other ways to find things out and yet other ways to execute them."

Jenoah Timko is a very self-motivated student in the Honors Project, "I'm so happy I finally found something on my level!" Jenoah transferred from City College in San Francisco and is very pleased with College of San Mateo, especially the Honors Project, for it has given her the opportunity to talk about what she wants to talk about. She enjoys "being challenged and giving a voice to something that wasn't going to have one." This was reflected in her Marriage and Family project about an LGBT issue, which her teacher stated "was one of the best papers she had ever read on the JC level." Jenoah enjoys coming to a class each week knowing that people have the same motivation as she does. She is excited to immerse herself in intellectual conversations because they give her the passion to continue doing what she is doing. She says, "I am constantly challenged to go to that level, and still be myself."